O'TREHY - TROY

Though not numerous in Ireland the name Troy
is not uncommon in Co. Tipperary and surrounding
areas. The location of this small sept (which
originated in Co. Clare but did not remain there)
was in the Clogheen district of Co. Tipperary :
their association with that part of the country
is perpetuated in the place-name Ballytrehy.

O'Trehy is an older anglicized form of the
name in use as late as the seventeenth century,
but now very rare: O'Trehy is a phonetic
rendering of the Irish O Troighthigh, presumably
derived from the Irish word troightheach meaning
a foot-soldier.

The name in the 1659 census is spelt Trohy and
it appears among the more numerous names in the
baronies of Eliogarty and Ikerrin, Co. Tipperary.
Another place-name is Castletroy, now a suburb of
Limerick. The name was closely associated with
that city and appears very frequently in its
earlier records. Henry Troy was Provost of
Limerick in 1197.

In 1198 the first mayor and sheriffs were
chosen : between that date and 1463 no less than
twenty-one Troys held one or other of those
offices.

Some variant forms of the surname spellings are listed below, beginning with the earliest known old Irish form.